Sabu Dastagir

Sabu Dastagir
Dastagir in the trailer for Cobra Woman (1944)
Born	Selar Sabu (1924-01-27)27 January 1924 Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of Mysore, British India
Died	2 December 1963(1963-12-02) (aged 39) Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death	Heart attack
Other names	Sabu
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1937–1963
Spouse(s)	Marilyn Cooper (m. 1948)
Children	musician Paul Sabu and Jasmine Sabu, an animal trainer

Sabu Dastagir (born Selar Sabu; 27 January 1924 – 2 December 1963) was an Indian film actor who later gained United States citizenship. He was normally credited only by his first name, Sabu, and is primarily known for his work in films during the 1930s–1940s in Britain and America.^[1][2][3][4] He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Early life

Born in 1924 in Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of Mysore, then a Princely State of British India, and raised as a Muslim,^[5] Sabu was the son of an Indian mahout (elephant rider). While most reference books list his full name as "Sabu Dastagir" (which was the name he used legally), research by journalist Philip Leibfried suggests that his full name was in fact Selar Sabu. His brother Shaik Dastagir (whose name Leibfried suggests was the source of confusion surrounding Sabu's full name) managed his career.^[6] His brother was killed in 1960 in a robbery of his furniture store, a failing business jointly owned by the two men.

Career

When he was 13, Sabu was discovered by documentary film-maker Robert Flaherty, who cast him in the role of an elephant driver in the 1937 British film Elephant Boy. This was adapted from "Toomai of the Elephants", a story by Rudyard Kipling. In 1938 producer Alexander Korda commissioned A. E. W. Mason to write The Drum as a starring vehicle for the young actor.

Sabu is perhaps best known for his role as Abu in the 1940 British film The Thief of Bagdad. Director Michael Powell said that Sabu had a "wonderful grace" about him.^[7] In 1942 Sabu played another role based on a Kipling story, namely Mowgli in Jungle Book directed by Zoltán Korda, which was shot entirely in California.^[8] He starred alongside Maria Montez and Jon Hall in three films for Universal Pictures: Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943) and Cobra Woman (1944).

After becoming an American citizen in 1944, Sabu joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as a tail gunner and ball turret gunner on B-24 Liberators. He flew several dozen missions with the 370th Bombardment Squadron of the 307th Bomb Group in the Pacific, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor and bravery.^[9]

His career declined after World War II as he was unable to secure equivalent roles in Hollywood that British films had offered. He occasionally did gain significant parts, such as his supporting role in the British film Black Narcissus (1947). Through most of the 1950s he starred in largely unsuccessful European films. In 1952, he starred in the Harringay Circus with an elephant act.^[10] He was considered for a role in Mehboob Khan's 1957 film Mother India which would have marked his debut in Hindi films but the role ended up going to Sunil Dutt, hence Sabu never got to appear in an Indian film.^[11]

In 1963, he made a comeback to Hollywood with a supporting role in Rampage opposite Robert Mitchum. He played another supporting role alongside Brian Keith in the Disney film, A Tiger Walks. This would turn out to be his final role as he died three months before the film was released.

Personal life

On 19 October 1948, Sabu married little-known actress Marilyn Cooper^[12] (whose only film part, as Princess Tara in Song of India in 1949, was not credited), with whom he had two children. Their marriage lasted until his death.

Their son Paul Sabu established the rock band Sabu in the 1980s, and their daughter Jasmine Sabu was an animal trainer on various films; she died in 2001.

Sabu was the subject of a paternity suit that resulted in a published opinion by the California Court of Appeal, Dastagir v. Dastagir, 241 P.2d 656 (Cal. App. 1952). Sabu was sued by an infant girl born in 1948, through her mother, an unnamed, unmarried English actress, who claimed to have had an affair with Sabu, and that he was the infant's father. The suit was tried by a jury, which returned a nine to three verdict in favour of Sabu.

Death

On 2 December 1963, Sabu died suddenly in Chatsworth, California, of a heart attack, a month before his 40th birthday.^[13] He is interred at the Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery. His wife said in a television interview that two days before his death, during a routine medical check, his doctor told him: "If all my patients were as healthy as you, I would be out of a job".

Filmography

Sabu in Hello Elephant (1952)

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Leibfried, Philip. Star of India: The Life and Films of Sabu. Oklahoma; BearManor Media, 2010.
• Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 125-126.
• Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 207-208.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sabu (actor).

• Sabu on IMDb
• Sabu at the BFI's Screenonline
• Powell and Pressburger Pages article
• Criterion Collection Essay